


Tell The World I'm Coming Home.

by hemakeshimstrongx



Series: The Song Fic Series [11]
Category: Ed Sheeran (Musician), Larry Stylinson - Fandom, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Engaged Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson Get Married, Home, Love, M/M, Model Harry, No Smut, Singer Louis, Zayn Malik & Louis Tomlinson Friendship, based off of English Rose by Ed Sheeran, idk what else to tag, in spirit of project home, sorry - Freeform, ugh i think that's it whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 06:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6644974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hemakeshimstrongx/pseuds/hemakeshimstrongx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis has been on the road for a long time, and he finally makes the decision to go home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tell The World I'm Coming Home.

**Author's Note:**

> in celebration of #ProjectHome :) I've had this written for like a really long time but I never published it for whatever reason, so here it is! It's based off of English Rose by Ed Sheeran which is a really cute song from the Wembley Edition of X.  
> please comment, share and leave kudos, it's all greatly appreciated!  
> my tumblr: hemadeitfeellikehome  
> my twitter: itfeltlikehome_  
> (can you tell that i love home with every part of my being?)

_**Across the sea, by the** _  
_**Tennessee skyline, they told** _  
_**me I'd find my hopes and my dreams.** _

 

Waking up in a strange place is something Louis has grown accustomed to. Playing shows all across the US for the entire summer is fun, he loves touring. He just doesn't like looking out the bus window to rows and rows of vast fields without a clue as to where he is.

 

Groaning, Louis closes the curtain and promptly drops his head back to his pillow. He can't remember the last time he's been at home, in his own bed. Touring started when he was about to turn twenty one. He did small gigs in the UK and Ireland and a few in America. Then he put out his first full album while on that tour, and booked bigger venues. The Sophomore album came out and the venues got even bigger. Arenas, now. Entire arenas sold out by his second album. Louis is absolutely mind blown, he has no idea how this happened.

 

This tour, touring across America - across the world - is very time consuming. He started in Australia, was there for about two months. Then it was five shows in Africa. Then an entire South American leg that lasted nearly three months. A month off was spent in Los Angeles before the tour picked up again for the European leg. Five months. Across the UK and Ireland, all over Europe. Italy, Sweden, places Louis can't even remember. Another album, and the end of a tour. He thought he'd completely bypassed North America, but he got the phone call a month later. The almost 4 month North American leg is finishing up, ending in Miami, Florida in about a week or so. Louis loves performing. He loves the electric feeling he gets when he's onstage, he loves the fans and the people on the road with him. But he's been touring nonstop and the more popular he gets, more dates get added. Prime example: the North American leg. Louis had already been home. His album was out and at the top of the charts and then he got a phone call, we're putting you on a North American leg to wrap this up. Dates all across Canada and the US.

 

_**But I'd long to be in the** _  
_**bed of my true love, back** _  
_**where I came from she's** _  
_**waiting for me.** _

 

"Louis, we're coming up on a stop," the driver, who Louis has come to know quite well this leg, calls.

 

Louis finally pulls himself out of the bunk, grabbing a sweatshirt from on top of his suitcase. "What are we stopping at?"

 

"This gas station," Sean replies. "There's not much around here, so."

 

"Got that right," Louis mumbles. "What state is this?"

 

"Memphis. Tennessee. Have you heard from your boy?" Sean asks, and Louis shakes his head. "Must be hard, no? Being away all the time."

 

"God, you have no idea."

 

Paparazzi and security aren't an issue since here in the middle of nowhere. Louis refuses to use the bathroom in the tiny gas station. Harry would kill him for using such an unsanitary place. "Do you know how fucking cliche this is?" Louis says, staring at his phone which says NO SIGNAL in the top corner.

 

"What do you mean?" Zayn asks from the other isle.

 

Louis grabs a jar of Pringles. "No service, shitty gas station in the middle of nowhere. We're going to get abducted. British pop star Louis Tomlinson abducted from shitty Tennessee gas station at the ass crack of dawn," Louis says thoughtfully, taking a bottle of Coca Cola.

 

"How about that for a headline, huh?" Zayn laughs, shaking his head. "That would definitely sell a lot, wouldn't it?"

 

"Tomlinson was touring for the seven hundredth month of a never ending tour and was in the middle of writing his third album. He leaves behind six siblings and model boyfriend, Harry Styles." Louis mocks the classic reporter in his best voice.

 

"How is he, by the way?" Zayn asks as they put their stuff up on the counter.

 

"He wanted to come out for the last few shows but he can't, he's got too many gigs booked."

 

Back on the bus, Zayn and Louis both sit in the main area and dig into the snacks they'd bought. "Have you talked to Harry yet today?"

 

Louis reaches over and grabs his phone. No missed texts. "No, but I will now if it'll make everybody shut the fuck up about it." He dials Harry's number and waits.

 

"Lou!" Harry exclaims.

 

"Hi, love," Louis smiles, struggling to open his can of Pringles one handed. "How are you?"

 

"I'm good," Harry chirps. "Miss you, though. Where are you?"

 

"Tennessee. Memphis."

 

"I really miss you."

 

"I know, H. I miss you too. Just a week or so, alright?"

 

"Then a break?"

 

"I don't know. You know that I don't know."

 

Harry sighs heavily. "When's your next show?"

 

"Saturday. We're almost at the hotel in Memphis, I think."

 

"Skype when you get to the hotel?" Harry asks hopefully. "I have new stuff that I wanna show you that I'm supposed to do shoots in."

 

"Assuming I don't knock out as soon as I get to the hotel, yeah, baby."

 

"Oh. Okay. I love you."

 

"I love you too, Haz," Louis whispers, staring down at his Pringles. "Can't wait to come home."

 

Zayn stares at Louis pointedly after the call has ended. "What are you going to do?"

 

"What do you mean? There's nothing I can do."

 

"You're tired." Zayn points out. Louis shrugs. "That's not good. You're twenty four years old and you're already tired and stressed."

 

"I love doing this, though."

 

_**So I'll make my way through** _  
_**winding country roads, but my** _  
_**heart still beats for my home** _  
_**and my english rose.** _

 

"Louis, you've been on the road for nearly three years straight. You're in the middle of writing your third album. I think that you should stay home, work on this album, then come back. You can't keep touring back to back like you are. You're only on your second full album, Lou. And all the fans would be there when you come back. And I know you love it. I know you do. But come on, mate. You've got to be tired. Hell, I'm tired and I'm just along for the ride. You're out there every single night giving one hundred and fifty percent up on that stage, singing and playing your heart out, and then you come back and you don't even go to sleep, you're putting two hundred percent into your next album until four in the morning."

 

Louis shoves another Pringle in his mouth. "I wanna go home," he says finally. "Harry. Home with Harry."

 

"I know," Zayn smiles.

 

 _ **I told my dad on the phone**_  
_**it's amazing from the streets**_  
_**to the craziest places I've seen**_.

 

The next morning Louis wakes up in a hotel bed with his phone ringing. He answers, rubbing his face. "Yeah?"

 

"How's the states?" the voice on the other end is his father.

 

Louis fights every single urge to groan and hang up. "I just woke up, give me a minute to process this," Louis says slowly. "The states are nice. Big. Crowds are amazing."

 

"Good, that's good. How's Harry?"

 

"Um, he's good. Busy. Booking lots of modeling gigs."

 

"That's good. What about the... The, um, wedding?"

 

"On hold for right now. Though it's not stopping Harry from going crazy planning," Louis replies, running a hand through his hair as he sits up.

 

"You better get your shit together with that kid, Louis. Don't let Harry slip away. He's the best thing that's ever happened to you."

 

_**But I'd long to be in the** _  
_**arms of my true love, like** _  
_**he loves my mother he** _  
_**understands me.** _

 

And, someone might argue that Louis' fame has to be the one best thing that's ever happened to him. But if someone actually asked Louis 'if you could pick one thing and pin it to be the greatest thing you've ever had, what would it be?' and gave him a chance to give a decent answer, he'd say that it's Harry. Harry is the one greatest thing to happen to Louis. Not the album releases or the sales or the touring or anything that comes attached to the fame. It's Harry, this boy who looks pretty in front of the camera but even better when he's not.

 

Louis met Harry at an album release party. His own album release party, nonetheless. Harry was there with a friend in the industry - Liam. Louis was on his way to drunk and Zayn was trying to get him to smoke a joint but Louis figured drunk at his album release party was enough, he didn't have to be high too. Harry was at the bar, drinking a blood red cocktail through a straw. Louis ended up there because people asking questions give him headaches, and Harry started flirting immediately. Terrible, god-awful flirting that Louis couldn't help but fall for.

 

Ever since then, Harry had been the light of Louis' life. They've been each other's everything for the last three years. Louis proposed before he left to tour again, last year. Wedding has been on hold ever since. The schedule of a multi-platinum recording artist and a well-known male model do not mix well, especially when you want to plan a wedding. "I'm not going to fuck it up," Louis says finally, staring out his hotel window. "I've gotta go. Nice talking to you."

 

When he hangs up the call Louis takes a shower and starts humming a new tune for a song. Immediately upon getting out, Louis grabs one of his guitarists, Dan, because Louis can play guitar but he trusts Dan, and gets him to strum what Louis has in his head. "Like this, then?" Dan asks, finally strumming correctly.

 

"Yes, fuck. That's it. Thank you so much. I love you."

 

Dan laughs. "Pen a hit, Tommo!"

 

Louis starts to write the words down, mumbling them as he does. "You'll never feel like you're alone... I'll make this feel like home."

 

_**I spend my days, just** _  
_**traveling and playing shows.** _  
_**But my heart still beats for my** _  
_**home and my English rose.** _

 

"So, I've just finished this new song. It took me a day to write, and it's one of my favourite songs I've ever written. I haven't shown it to anybody yet, not Julian or anybody. But tonight, Memphis, I'd like to play it for you, if that's alright. It's called Home, and it's about finding that one person who is your home. For a long time my home was my house, with my mum and my sisters. Then home became a tour bus, and then I met Harry," Louis can't help but break out into a smile.

 

The audience erupts into cheers at the mention of him. "And home wasn't a place anymore, it was Harry, it was the feeling that came with him. I've been away from home for a long time, and that's kind of what this song's about."

 

The video of the song goes viral, and Louis gets a call from Harry nearly as soon as he gets offstage.

 

"What have you got Louis Tomlinson update account notifications turned on or summat?" Louis teases, climbing into the back of the black SUV.

 

"I hate you, you know that?"

 

"You heard the song?"

 

"Yes, I heard the fucking song."

 

"Do you like it?"

 

"I love it. I love you. Can we please Skype tonight? I need to see your face."

 

"Yeah, love. Skype tonight."

 

_**I met a man in a bar** _  
_**down in Memphis. He** _  
_**told me he went there to** _  
_**follow his dreams.** _

 

Louis and Zayn are drinking in this little bar when Zayn decides he's got to go to the bathroom, leaving Louis alone. There's someone singing onstage, soft songs, a middle aged looking guy. He comes off for his break, standing right next to Louis. "Gave everything up for this, can you believe it?" He says, shaking his head. "All I wanted to do."

 

"Well, if it's what you like to do." Louis says slowly.

 

"Don't make the same mistakes I did, kid."

 

_**He told me 'son, you know** _  
_**I lost my true love for the** _  
_**same reasons that you** _  
_**crossed the sea.'** _

 

Louis frowns, thinking for a moment. "What do you mean?"

 

The man looks down at him. "How long have you been on the road for?"

 

"Couple years straight."

 

"And now you're here in a shitty bar in Memphis getting drunk. You got a boyfriend, don't you?"

 

Louis nods. "I do, yeah."

 

"I did the same thing you did. Moved down here because opportunities, and all that. Left the love of my life back home. Traded her for writing songs and getting drunk. And it didn't even play out the way I wanted it to. If you're not careful the music industry is gonna tear you and your relationship apart. Go home while you can."

 

Zayn comes back then, acknowledging the performer with a nod and a compliment to his sets. "He thinks I should go home. To Harry." Louis says.

 

"Lou, I've been telling you that for the past year, haven't I?"

 

 _ **And I found truth in people**_  
_**I barely know. But my heart**_  
_**still beats for my home and**_  
_**my English rose**_.

 

"What about the music?"

 

"Everything will be waiting for you when you get back, Louis. You can go home, get married, settle down a bit. Write, do an interview here and there. Then once you're ready and Harry's ready you can get back out on the road." Louis doesn't say anything, and Zayn sighs. "C'mon, Lou. You can't do this forever, you know. Go home."

 

**. . .**

 

Harry answers the phone immediately. "I've been gone for a really, really long time," Louis says. "It's been too long. And it's not fair."

 

"Louis? Are you okay? It's three in the morning over there. You have a flight in the morning."

 

"How many songs do you think I've written about you?" Louis asks as he gets into the backseat of the car. "Don't answer that, babe, it's hypothetical. It's a lot of songs, though. At least half of them. I wrote most of the songs on the second album with you on my mind. Or asleep on the Skype call. Or in my bed."

 

"Yeah, I know. Louis, where's Zayn?"

 

"Zayn's sleeping in the room next to me. Everything's fine. We're all fine. I just miss you, I wanted to tell you how much I miss you."

 

Harry laughs into the phone. "I miss you too, babe. But you'll be here tomorrow."

 

Louis will actually be at the house in a matter of minutes, but Harry doesn't know this. Louis feels nervous, but he feels excited. He isn't sure why he's so nervous, but the excitement is sure to block out the nervousness sometime soon. "Are you home?" he asks.

 

"Of course I'm home, you donut, it's eight in the morning over here."

 

"What're you up to?" Louis asks, attempting to keep casual.

 

"I'm waiting for coffee to finish and deciding what I want for breakfast. Can you go to sleep, please? If you're looking for phone sex, I'm not gonna give it to you. Because you're delusional as of right now."

 

Louis chuckles. "I'm not delusional. Listen, I need you to check on the porch for something," he says, leaving the car door open to avoid giving away the fact that he's outside the house. "I ordered some stuff that's supposed to come. Can you see if it's there?"

 

"Louis, you're home tomorrow. And I have to go out there and check for my own stuff anyway. It can't wait? It's late, Lou." 

 

"Just do it, Harold. Please." 

 

"It's gonna be, like, a sex toy or something. And you're gonna expect me to use it right now, because why not? You need to sleep."

 

"Just do it," Louis sighs, pretending to be frustrated even though his face is about to split in two from the smile on his face. "Please, baby? For me." 

 

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it. Walking to the front door now." Harry begins narrating his journey to the front door, making Louis smile even bigger even though he's not quite sure how that's  _physically_ possible. "I am unlocking the door. It's a nice day out, too. I'll probably go for a run. I am turning the doorknob. You are making me do a lot of work right now." 

 

The door swings open, and the phone drops from Harry's hand. "Holy shit. You're home." he whispers. 

 

Louis nods. "I'm home, love." 

 

Then Harry's  _crying_ and now Louis knows he's done it. He isn't positive about what he's done, but he's done something. Harry's not crying because he's sad, he's crying because he's happy, which Louis supposes is the thing he's done. He's made Harry so overwhelmingly happy. Harry pulls Louis through the doorway and into a hug. 

 

The exact kind of hug Louis thinks about when he's falling asleep halfway across the world, the hug he thinks about when he watches Harry doze off on the Skype call, the hug he thinks about while he's onstage and especially the hug he thinks about whenever he writes song. The song he was thinking about when Louis wrote  _Home._

 

"Please don't cry, love," Louis whispers, rubbing Harry's back. "I'm home now. I'm home and I'm gonna stay for a while. I'm not gonna leave you for a long time, okay?" 

 

"You promise? You have to promise me, Lou," Harry begs, pulling back so he can look Louis in the eye. 

 

Before, Louis could never promise anything. He never promised Harry when he'd be home from the studio or whether or not they could Skype or  _anything._ But now, he nods. "I promise, Haz. We're gonna get married and honeymoon for two weeks in whatever tropical place you want to go to. And we'll come home and just do normal couple things for a long time, okay?" Louis promises, wiping the tears from his boy's cheeks. 

 

"Maldives. We're gonna go to the Maldives." 

 

Louis nods without hesitation. "Maldives. We're going there, perfect, baby. We'll get that set up." 

 

Harry kisses him then - finally - it's been too long. Louis backs him up into the house, still kissing like it's the only thing they know how to do. He pauses only to close the door and lock it again. "I missed you so much," Harry says against Louis' lips. "We're going and getting in bed and you're not leaving it for the next week." 

 

Louis laughs. That doesn't sound bad to him at all. "I love the sound of that, darling." 

 

**. . .**

 

Nine months later, Louis and Harry get married on a beach in Florida. Harry Styles becomes Harry Tomlinson - they become the Tomlinsons. In front of all of their family and friends they seal the deal, promises of eternity and forever and love and devotion hanging in the air around them. 

 

During their first dance Louis' mind flashes back briefly to that night in the bar in Memphis, and he wonders if that musician ever found his true happiness. His home. He shakes the thought and focuses solely on his happiness, his home, which is right here in his arms. Louis kisses Harry briefly, just to make sure this is real. 

 

It's definitely real, he's able to conclude. It's real. His home is right here. He's finally home, and doesn't plan on leaving any time soon. 

 

"Lou," Harry whispers, lips brushing gently against his husband's ( _husband!!!)_ ear. "Thank you for making it feel like home." 

 

Louis breaks into one of those face-breaking grins again. "Thank you for giving me a place to make home." 


End file.
